First, a smart city project generally lasts for three years. As smart city projects have boomed in China since 2015, all kinds of related equipment, platforms, applications developed by participating vendors, and systems are expected to mushroom between 2016 and 2018.

Smart cities will eventually enter the realm of big data analytics because, aside from basic functions, the bottom layer of smart cities is consisted of various smart end-user devices with data collection, mining, and integration functions.

Second, the Chinese government's policy support. In addition to the private sector, governments and the public sector have an even greater need for the coordinated development of smart cities and big data. Therefore, the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued a guideline to promote the development of big data in September 2015.

The guideline has set a timetable for the government to open its data, together with detailed plans for the establishment of open platforms in vertical industries. The provision of open government data is expected to speed up the integration of smart cities and big data applications.